Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There have been many casualties of the COVID pandemic, especially in Victoria, where abject failure of administration to provide for adequate quarantine, to put in place workable contact tracing and even to put in a QR code, until recently, are highlights. Amongst those casualties have been the arts community and festivals that normally happen in local communities. So it was very pleasing to see that the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art continued again this year, in its 17th iteration. The winner of the prize, who was announced at the exhibition on 6 May, went for the first time to a digital artist. James Nguyen of Murrumbeena was presented with the $20,000 prize in the open category for his moving image The Camellia Economy. This 20-minute video tells the story of a handful of seeds given to the artist by his late grandmother on his return to Vietnam. In Australia the family grew the seeds into tea plants, which they used to trade and swap in the community, symbolising for them the preservation of their culture, storytelling, care and entrepreneurship, which survived both war and exile.

The local prize was won by Eltham artist Nusra Latif Qureshi for Remnant Blessings-1, an acrylic, graphite, gouache and gold on illustration board, and $10,000 was presented for that prize. The Mayor's Award went to the sculptor Clive Murray-White, an artist in residence of Dunmoochin art collective, who took home a $500 award for his work Assisted Suiseki No:9. The finalists exhibition is open currently at Montsalvat. I encourage not only constituents in my electorate but people from all around Melbourne to visit. Montsalvat, an iconic institution so far as the artists community in Melbourne is concerned, has had it tough as a result of the lockdowns from COVID. The exhibition is open from Thursday to Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm, until 1 July. I encourage people to go along, and they can also vote for the People's Choice Award.

I was also delighted to be able to note that this year's Warrandyte Festival, having been cancelled last year, is likely to continue in October. 'Together Again' will be staged at Stiggants Reserve from Friday evening, 22 October, through Saturday 23 October. It has been cut down—it usually goes over into Sunday as well. The festivities will kick off on Friday night with a short film extravaganza. Saturday will feature a solid music program: kids and community choirs and the full thrust of an epic Battle of the Bands. Two major acts will play on the stage on the Saturday evening. All news about this will be found in the Warrandyte Diary, which is a wonderful newspaper in my electorate. I urge everybody to get along to the festival this year.